Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū Ep 2 recap

Kikuhiko and Hatsutaro (I think Kiku was sending Hatsu off to war)

I just finished watching Ep 2 on live-stream. It was very good! The timid, young Kikuhiko is a STARK contrast to the old, rather cynical old Yakumo. Yamasaki Ikusaburo made a delightful entrance as Hatsutaro, while we got a glimpse of Miyokichi at the end of the (seemingly short) episode.

Ep 2 started with the young Kikuhiko joining the 7th Yakumo’s household in 1936. Hatsutaro aka Sukeroku welcomed Kiku rather warmly n said he (Suke) would be the aniki from now on. Young Kiku had the old 8th gen Yakumo’s quiet personality while Suke was a chatterbox since the beginning. I think Kiku’s parents died when he was very young.



In 1941, we have the teenage Kiku (the real Okada Masaki) and teenage Hatsutaro (Yamasaki Ikusaburo). Sensei asked the low confident Kiku to perform Rakugo  solo for the first time. The young story teller wasn’t successful in attracting attention, while Hatsutaro, who did the next session, was able to easily capture people’s attention. However, Kiku never got jealous with Hatsutaro. I think he just accepted that Hatsutaro was better than him.

Kiku also loved shamisen. One day when the shamisen player injured her hand (RSI?), Kiku took over and he was doing very well. Then we have the real Rakugo master who trained Masaki in real life performing an act as well. On the same night, the military police came by and said something which made people uncomfortable.

Anyway, Kiku then trained shamisen properly amidst the war cries outside. Kiku finally kissed n hugged the shamisen girl. Not sure what else they did afterwards. However, Ochiyo (the shamisen girl, I think that’s her name) had to... go away? Not sure what happened. Did she have to go back to her village? That was a sad but sweet high school crush I think.

One night Kiku overheard about something (which I assume about war or about Master Shinagawa’s death…). In October 1941, Master Shinagawa – whoever he was – died. Japan was also entering war against the US etc. Kiku n Hatsutaro were washing dishes when Kiku lamented how Rakugo would die in that war era, but Hatsutaro was still optimistic.

April 1945: Hatsutaro was enlisted to war. Kiku was spared because of his bad leg. That night, Hatsu gave Kiku his talisman, the fan with “Yakumo” written on it and said he’d definitely return safely.

(wait, according to the manga, Hatsutaro and Shishu Yakumo VII were actually enlisted to perform Rakugo in Manchuria. Perhaps that was what happened here as well).

August 1945 (Shōwa 20the year): Hatsu had been away for four months. Kiku accompanied Yakumo VII's wife to live outside Tokyo. Kiku also had to train for war, but his bad leg prevented him to be half a fighter he could be. (I think this series is the first time Masaki was involved in drama set in the war period). Then, came the news that Japan lost the war.

Stuttering, Kiku realised that Japan’s defeat meant that the war was finally over. Kiku said they could return to Tokyo. Kiku and Yakumo VII's wife returned to Shishu's house. Kiku was getting better at rakugo, although he just performed for an American who couldn’t understand anything. Soon after, Sukeroku returned to the laughter-thirsty audience. However, it meant that Kiku was reduced to being the secondary performance once more, but he never gave up in improving himself.

(btw, we had a bath scene with Kiku and Hatsutaro - no slash pairing there - and I can see Masaki's arms... he started to develop muscles...)

Then one faithful night, when Kiku was going out of the theatre after his practice, he met Miyokichi in front of the theatre...



Update 27 Oct 2018: Pandora has several links for Ep 2, one of them is this one.